Do not resuscitate orders: practice vs. medical record notes.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the accuracy of pediatric patients' death records of a tertiary care center, comparing these records with data from a previous study. METHODS Death records entered on the medical charts of non-resuscitated patients between 1999 and 2001 were compared with the medical procedure during cardiac arrest, which was described based on the Utstein-style guidelines. Our results were compared (using the chi-square test for equality of distributions) with the results of a previous study, which revealed a significant discrepancy between the medical procedure and the death record entered on the medical chart. RESULTS The data analysis revealed agreement between the medical procedure and the medical record notes in 86.5% of the cases. The agreement rate in the previous study was only 27.5%. CONCLUSIONS There was a significant reduction of discrepancy between the medical procedure during a cardiac arrest and the death record entered on the medical chart.